By Beth Neil
I just drink very quickly. Once I've finished my own I start on other people's drinks.. The Government ought to do something..
She downs a bottle of vodka even BEFORE a night out starts, has 10 convictions for booze-fuelled violence and claims she simply can't resist getting smashed.
No wonder Susan Bruce, the face of binge-drink Britain, was branded a "very stupid girl" by a disgusted crown court judge last week.
Every weekend, the 22-year-old mumof-one drinks herself into oblivion on a cocktail of spirits and shots.
Her loutish conduct when drunk has got her a six-month spell behind bars. And during her latest bout of bad behaviour she brawled with bouncers who had booted her out of a club for being drunk, then fought with the police officers who came to arrest her.
Shockingly, far from hanging her head in shame Susan insists she's been hard done by and is only doing what people her age do on a Saturday night.
And she reckons Judge Timothy Nash, who handed her a 56-day curfew at Canterbury crown court last week, is just an out-of-touch fuddy duddy.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Susan, from Canterbury, moans: "It's not like I'm the only one - there are loads of girls out there doing exactly the same, getting completely wrecked.
"It's just what happens. Girls go out now in big groups and drink a lot.
"I think the judge was quite harsh on me. I was only expecting a one-month curfew but he's given me two. I also expected it to run from 8pm till seven the next morning. But it's from 8pm till 8am, so that's an extra hour.
"He was trying to make an example out of me. I think he's old-fashioned and a bit out of touch. I can understand where he's coming from but these days girls go out on the town - and we can keep up with the boys.
"I'm not a very violent person and listening to the police saying I was violent made me quite annoyed.
"I didn't recognise the person they were describing. And I know I have to accept their version of events, but things always seem worse when they're written down."
On the night in question, back in April, Susan had been out celebrating her sister-in-law's 25th birthday. Tanked up on alcohol, she was booted out of the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent, but tried to barge her way back in. When she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly she scrapped with police, who locked her up overnight.
After hearing how her night out ended with her collapsed in an alcoholsodden heap, Judge Nash called her a "very stupid girl" and spoke of his dismay that so many young British women are behaving this way.
He said: "This sort of behaviour is endemic. These girls go out with the best of intentions and end up completely plastered and are utterly objectionable and violent in public places because alcohol is freely available 24 hours a day."
After sinking a bottle of vodka before even leaving her house, Susan - mum to a sixyear-old daughter who doesn't live with her - often can't even remember going into the local bars and clubs.
So her recollections of that evening are, understandably, hazy. But, seemingly unwilling to accept respon-sibilitfor her actions, she blames the happy hour culture for putting cheap drink in temptation's way.
"I drank too much champagne," says Susan with a shrug.
"I'm not sure if it was a bottle or two. I can't really remember. We all got in a limo and I just got carried away.
"But alcohol is so cheap and there are ladies' nights and promotions at all the clubs I go to.
"Some you can get into for free and get free wine - and there's other places where it's just a quid for a double."
Susan, a former waitress and barmaid who now lives on benefits, might feel she was harshly treated by getting a curfew, but in truth she was lucky to escape a jail sentence.
She was only freed from Bronzefield Prison last October after serving six months on remand for wounding.
Susan stabbed another woman with a wine glass in a drunken rage, although she claims she was acting in self-defence.
"From the bruising I had on me, it must have been self-defence," she says. "I pleaded guilty in the end because I honestly can't remember how it happened "I can't really explain it. I just drink very quickly, sometimes I guzzle the drinks.
"Once I've finished my own drinks I start on other people's. The Government should do something about it because there are so many young people my age going out and getting drunk on a regular basis.
"There have been times when I can't remember what I've done the night before - even occasions when I've been arrested and woken up in a police cell. I just go home and forget about it.
"Once I left the police station and found my broken shoe outside."
Susan had a troubled childhood which goes some way towards explaining her present problems.
She spent most of her teenage years being shunted around 46 different foster homes and getting into trouble.
She speaks very matter-offactly about her brushes with the law, often not able to remember her age at the time or even what her punishment was.
When she was about 11 she was arrested in school for handling a stolen Polaroid camera and television. By 14 she was drinking heavily and had been convicted of assaulting a police officer.
A series of family problems saw Susan's drink and drug use spiral out of control and by the age of 17 she was in rehab, battling alcohol and cocaine abuse. "Life is just so much easier with drink," she says. "It helps you block out whatever else is going on. It helps you go to sleep.
"But what people don't realise is that what starts off as one or two glasses of wine can get a hold of you.
"People think they're going out and having a good time but drink can lead to all sorts of problems."
Although her previous stint in rehab failed to tackle her alcohol problems, Susan is desperate to try anything else that might help her.
She has now asked her GP to prescribe her with anti-alcohol medication which will make her vomit if even a drop of booze passes her lips.
She has already tried the Antabuse drug - which George Best famously turned to during his own ill-fated battle with the booze - but didn't have the right support network around her. This time, with her three brothers living nearby to help her, she feels stronger and more determined to make it work.
Susan is also attending weekly alcohol treatment classes. And she intends to come off benefits and lay the foundation for a better future by starting a college beauty course in September, then moving on to study travel and tourism.
But, rather worryingly, Susan has no plans to quit alcohol for good.
"I'm not saying I'll never drink alcohol again," she says. "I don't want a future with no alcohol at all. I'm only 22 and I want to be able to have a good night out.
"But when I look back on all the things I've done I do feel quite ashamed.
"I know I need to learn how to drink without going OTT."
For advice on cutting down your alcohol intake, contact alcoholconcern. org.uk and downyourdrink.org.uk.
What she downs in just ONE night
6 half pints of strong lager (9 units)
10 Aftershock shots (10 units)
1 70cl bottle of vodka (30 units)
This adds up to 49 units of booze - more than 16 times the recommended maximum daily consumption for women. Doctors advise women to make sure they don't exceed three units of alcohol in a single day and 14 units across a week.
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